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North Cascades Recreation and Trail Guide



Ashland Lakes Trail
Mountain Loop Highway

Ashland Lakes trail is a beautiful, easy, and short hike for experienced hikers or families with young kids. To get to Ashland Lakes you must travel up the Mountain Loop Highway until reaching the 15.7 mile post. Turn right onto Road #4020, where there's a sign indicating Boardman Lake Trail.

There will be gravel road from there. Travel another 2.6 miles and turn right onto Bear Lake Road # 4021. Follow for 1.4 miles and look for signs to Ashland Lakes and turn left to road #4021016. Trailhead begins in 0.1 mile on the right hand side and at an elevation of 2500 feet.

Before getting to the trail you must hike for approximately half of a mile on a dirt and gravel road. After reaching the trail continue one mile until you find yourself at Beaver Plant Lake camping grounds.

Here you'll find a few camping sites equipped with fire pits and honey bucket restrooms. Upper Ashland Lake is another half mile. On the trail you'Ll find youself hiking over grounded cedar stepping stones that prove to help stabalize your hike over muddy, wet conditions. There are also a couple bridges you will cross that can prove to be very slick so proceed with caution.

A quarter mile after Upper Ashland Lake is Lower Ashland Lake, which is a much less maintained trail, but is worth the beautiful scenery that surrounds the lake. The lake is shallow and great for fishing, camping, or just a glorious day of hiking.






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GoNorthCascades.com attempts to list hiking trails as we either trek them ourselves, have them recommended by friends or other readers, or read about them through other resources, such as books, news articles, and websites.

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